Full-time kindergarten is an investment

Full-day kindergarten has evolved from a rarity to the norm in Massachusetts public schools over the past decade, reflecting the needs of working parents and also evidence that the extra time in school is crucial to a child’s development. In 2000, less than a third of kindergartners attended full-day programs, accord...

Each school day, after the half-day students have gone home for the afternoon, Maura Donovan’s full-day kindergarten class at Dunning Elementary School in Framingham continues to work.

They take the sentence composition lessons they had with their half-day peers in the morning and apply it to writing a personal narrative; they delve deeper into math concepts.

“With kindergarteners, you can’t send home a worksheet,” said Donovan, a kindergarten teacher in the district since 2001. “They have to be physically there doing the activities.”

Full-day kindergarten has evolved from a rarity to the norm in Massachusetts public schools over the past decade, reflecting the needs of working parents and also evidence that the extra time in school is crucial to a child’s development.

In 2000, less than a third of kindergartners attended full-day programs, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

This year, 83 percent of Bay State kindergarten students are enrolled in full-day classrooms.

But in most districts, full-day kindergarten can cost as much as $3,000, and it might not be open to every family. Half-day programs come at no cost.

Many schools in the region are starting to offer free full-day programs to level the playing field for financially struggling families. The Framingham schools, for example, will scrap their $3,400 fee this fall, after the school board signed off on the plan this past week.

Earlier this month, the Bellingham School Committee also voted to start free full-day kindergarten next school year.

“I think this was an extreme burden,” Superintendent Edward Fleury said of the district’s $3,250 tuition, according to the Milford Daily News. “It’s pretty nice to know you’re not going to have to spend $3,250 to send your young son or daughter to class. ... For a young family, that’s a lot.”

Since 2000, the state has offered grants to help districts defray the added cost of full-day kindergarten classrooms. But grant money has dwindled in recent years.

The state cut kindergarten grants from $31.5 million in fiscal 2009 to $25.9 million the following year, and again to $22.9 million last year.

Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed $25.9 million for grants in next year’s budget.

That has put many towns that have relied on the funds — some even started full-day programs because of them — in a bind, said Catherine Stickney, curriculum director for the Ashland schools.

“I think that’s why many schools are trying to build it into their budget,” she said. “Which is what we’d love to do. But with the way the economy’s been, we haven’t been able to have that discussion yet.”

Instead, Ashland for the past couple years has offered a “wrap-around” program that allows half-day students to stay for afternoon enrichment activities a few days during the week.

Page 2 of 3 - Framingham is setting aside $700,000 to absorb the hit of losing the revenue from its $3,400 fee the first year. But officials there said the cost will go down in subsequent years thanks to additional Chapter 70 funding, the state’s basic education aid. By year two, school administrators project the free program will be no more expensive to run than if the district continued to accept the state’s kindergarten grant while charging higher fees to families.

Many parents are already struggling to pay the current rate, Donovan said.

“Of the children I’ve had in half-day classes, the vast majority of them were there for financial reasons,” she said.

While the half-day program is free, most families in Framingham — around 80 percent — enroll their students in full-day. The district has seen a surge in the applications in recent years, and spots have quickly filled up this spring for next school year as well.

Many kindergartners can benefit from full-day programs — especially those who have attended little or no preschool and arrive in school with gaps in language and literacy, state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said recently.

“It’s absolutely a critical experience,” he said.

But the options available to parents differ greatly from one district to the next.

Of 306 districts statewide with kindergarten programs, 284 offer at least one full-day session — but 22 do not, state officials said.

What happens in the classroom varies, too, according to Marcia Edson, clinical assistant professor in the early childhood program at Boston University School of Education.

Playing is an important way that kindergartners learn and develop. But some classrooms focus more heavily on academic work, partly because of greater emphasis on standardized testing in schools, she said.

In Framingham, some officials believe creating more access to full-day kindergarten will help the district pick up its lagging reading scores in the early grades.

“If we’re going to make a commitment to early literacy, kindergarten has to be part of that,” said interim assistant superintendent John Brackett.

Edson, who works with student teachers from preschool to second grade, said academics belong in kindergarten, but it’s a question of a teacher’s balance and approach.

“Right now, kindergartens are in this whole philosophical discussion,” she said.

What many local educators agree on, though, is that the full-day experience better prepares new students for the rigors of grade school.

“I always tell the kindergarten teachers, we’re assimilating students into their education,” said Karen LeDuc, assistant superintendent in Natick, which has offered free full-day kindergarten since 1999. “It gives kids an opportunity to experience what school is like.”

“It’s not necessarily all about the academics,” Stickney said. “It’s also about having that extra developmental time to be ready.”

Page 3 of 3 - (David Riley can be reached at 508-626-4424 or driley@wickedlocal.com. Scott O’Connell, who contributed to this article, can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com.)